Two years ago, I could have gotten last minute deal on a balcony cabin for the above Thanksgiving time cruise for roughly $1,300 excluding taxes and port fees. (They dropped the single supplement a few days before sailing. Otherwise, the cabin would have sold for $2,600.) Today, a similar cruise would set me back roughly $8,000. What's the difference? Pent up demand for cruising combined with limited availability of cabins has made this cruise unaffordable for many.
Two years ago, I posted an entry about cruises I considered taking. Ships are not being repositioned in a way one can predict from year to year. In the past, you might find ships that did the West Coast Alaska run now doing a Mexico run. Sometimes, ships would be repositioned through the Panama Canal, so that they can do a Caribbean run in the Winter. (The reverse run would take place in the Spring, preparing for the yearly Alaska cruising season.) Now, due to the pandemic, cruise lines are moving ships to regions where they can make the most money with limited capacity. Before the pandemic, one could easily find cruises that did a full transit of the canal. Today, many more ships do only a partial transit - and people seem happy with that.
When the time comes, I will make sure that I have a nice one piece bathing suit ready to go for a trip to the sun. I can't wait to be at pool side on either a Hawaii or Panama Canal run....
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On other matters....
Casual readers of this blog will notice that I am not going to as many meetups as I used to in the past. There are two reasons for this. First is the problems I had last year. The groups I was able to attend have either disbanded, or simply stopped meeting. Second is that I'm simply too tired to go out for the sake of going out.
When I look at my schedule, I find that I do not have enough hours in the day to keep up with the social demands on my life. There are people I want to keep up with that I haven't been able to do so. They are available to meet, but not at times I am available - and vice versa.
Dating is another wrinkle. I'm getting tired of "swiping right" and then having conversations peter out before we get to a phone call stage or meeting for coffee. No, I am not stretching things out too far. I might be seen as a viable but 2nd/3rd choice candidate. I have to find the time and energy to keep up my efforts in this area, but it's not that easy.
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All work and no play may be making Marian a very boring girl. Before I took my current job, I could easily find the time to read books. Today, I am way too tired to do this. I can't remember the last time I borrowed a book from the library and finished it before it was past due. I'm at the stage where I'm considering buying a few books, simply to have them available to read without having to wait for their availability via the library system.
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Luckily, my health hasn't failed me yet. But I have to be careful, given my age and current risk factors....
